2023-12-29

etc

• Generation Junk

  Many blamed these problems on the government. They believed it had crippled certain products (major home appliances especially) with environmental regulations, causing them to function poorly and turn rapidly to landfill fodder -- an ecological net loss, perhaps. Some folks blamed our trade arrangements with China and the evils of capitalism itself. Weak-link computer chips in items that don’t require them also came in for abuse. One philosophical reply spoke of a sinister general trend toward the degradation of everything human. “There’s a war on value that’s going that’s comprised of three parts: war on quality, war on money, war on life.” Lofty rhetoric, but I understood. When my suddenly de-electrified hybrid car became a hurtling giant stone inside which my wife and I were helplessly strapped – all for the crime of trying to save fuel and, ultimately, earth-- it was hard not to feel ambushed, tricked.

  • HN comments

• (2004) Yesterday's Technology, Tomorrow

  I don't want tomorrow's technology today. I want yesterday's technology tomorrow. I want old things that have stood the test of time and are designed to last so that I will still be able to use them tomorrow. I don't want tomorrow's untested and bug-ridden ideas for fancy new junk made available today because although they're not ready for prime time the company has to hustle them out because it's been six months since the last big new product announcement. Call me old-fashioned, but I want stuff that works.

• Just how big can a snowflake get?

• Best places in the US to experience totality during the April 2024 solar eclipse

• Double Double Division Algorithm

Horseshit

• This is why you don't hate the media enough

  That’s what sticks in my craw about this. A United States senator with close ties to the White House writes an op-ed about using the military to put down rioters—and rioting was going on nightly in many places right about then—and it’s somehow an affront to all that is good and decent to run it, but when a member of Hamas who also holds political office in Gaza wants to write an op-ed, they’re silent. Even if you disagree with Cotton on everything, it shouldn’t be difficult to see that he’s still preferable to a member of Hamas, right? For the New York Times newsroom, though, it’s not.

• 81 Things That Blew Our Minds in 2023

• The zeitgeist is changing. a romantic backlash to the tech era looms

• Leggings became a multibillion-dollar industry

• Five Days When All Possum Crimes Are Legal

• American Cars Are Huge and Unsafe, but Automakers Don't Want the Simple Solution

• The Most Dangerous People on the Internet in 2023 | WIRED

  • Elon Musk at No. 1; Hamas at No. 4.

• Flying Taxis Are Coming in 2024. You Read That Right

• More than 40 investors share their top predictions for 2024

• "504 Gateway Timeout ... Haw Haw Haw" U.S. Government Database of Dad Jokes | Hacker News

• Samsung's new AI-enabled smart fridge designs recipes based on dietary needs

celebrity gossip

• Utah parenting influencer pleads guilty to child abuse

• John Cleese Apologizes for ‘Very Bad Joke’ About Trump and Hitler

  • Comedian John Cleese mocks critics of his viral Hitler joke

Obit

• Herb Kohl, former U.S. senator and Milwaukee Bucks owner, dies at 88

• Jacques Delors, Passionate Architect of European Unity, Dies at 98

  • Jacques Delors, architect of the modern EU and ‘Mr. Europe,’ dies aged 98

  • Jacques Delors, Father of European Integration, Dies at 98

• Wolfgang Schäuble: Merkel's no-nonsense finance minister dies aged 81

• 33-Year-Old Fox News Radio Anchor Dies After Short Illness

Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering

• The dangerous impact of 'fake news' on the lives of Spanish speakers in the U.S.

• Fact checkers tend to agree on validity of news claims, researchers say

Musk

• Berlin researchers hacked Tesla autopilot to unlock "Elon mode"

Trump / War against the Right / Jan6

• group behind the lawsuit removing President Trump from the Colorado Ballot reveals their largest donor is George Soros.

• Colorado Republicans Appeal Trump Ballot Ban to US Supreme Court

• Conservative Group Asks Supreme Court to Put Trump Back on Colorado Ballot

• Michigan Supreme Court keeps Trump on the ballot — but leaves opening for a new challenge

• Special counsel's filing seeks to bar Trump from blaming others for Jan. 6 Capitol attack

• Jack Smith Is Already Worried About ‘Political Attacks’ at Trump’s Trial

• Trump shouldn't be able to distract the jury with politics during his election interference trial

• Melania Trump noticeably absent from family Christmas photo

• Trump Assails Debbie Dingell in His Latest Escalation on Social Media

  • Trump mocks Democrat for crying over husband's funeral — and not being grateful enough to him

  • Trump lashes out at 'loser' Rep. Debbie Dingell in swirling feud

• Mike Godwin of Godwin's Law: Yes, It's Okay to Compare Trump to Hitler

• Democrat Secretary Of State Kicks Trump Off Maine Ballot | ZeroHedge

  • Maine Kicks Trump Off the Ballot for Role in Jan. 6 Riot Archive

  “I am mindful that no secretary of state has ever deprived a presidential candidate of ballot access based on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. I am also mindful, however, that no presidential candidate has ever before engaged in insurrection.,” Ms. Bellows wrote.

  • IP thread

• Trump will appear on Colorado primary ballot amid appeal, secretary of state says

  The Colorado Secretary of State said Thursday that she will include former President Donald Trump as a candidate on the state's 2024 primary ballot while the state Supreme Court's decision to exclude him from the ballot goes through the appeals process.

Pox / COVID / BioTerror AgitProp

• The Employee Retention Tax Credit Is the Biggest Covid Scam

Religion / Tribal / Culture War and Re-Segregation

• Palestinian Restaurant Opens in NYC—With a Side of Outrage

• Pro-Palestine activists block entrance to JFK airport

• Pro-Palestine protesters block main entrance to LAX on busy travel day, cops making arrests

• Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate near homes of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan

• Who Is Funding Canary Mission? Inside the Doxxing Operation

• How Does a Mind Change? - by Arnold Kling - In My Tribe

• Arsonist Ordered to Pay Nearly $300,000 for Damages to Wyoming Abortion Clinic

• Confederate Monument Is Taken Down in Jacksonville, Fla.

  • Battle Over Confederate Monument in Jacksonville Finally Ends With Its Removal

• A tale of penguins and prejudice is a parable of modern America

  nce upon a time in America there lived a pair of penguins called Roy and Silo. They were just like the other penguin couples in their zoo, except that they were both boys. Together they sat on an egg until a chick popped out. Later two men wrote a story about them—igniting a controversy which, almost two decades later, is still blazing.

• Jewish IQ

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

• Nearly Half of Companies Plan to Eliminate Bachelor's Degree Requirements in 2024

• Claudine Gay Plagiarism Victim Posts Seven-Point Plan for Fixing Harvard

• (2019 data) Percentage of 12th graders who drive, drink, date, and work

• Home-schoolers dismantled state oversight. Now they fear pushback

  • HN comments

• Kansas School Approves 'Satan Club' Over Objections Of Students, Parents | ZeroHedge

Entertainment / ShowBiz / Advertising

• Lode Runner (HTML5 Remake)

• Kaspersky reveals previously unknown hardware 'feature' used in iPhone attacks

• It's "shakeout" time as losses of Netflix rivals top $5B

• Researchers come up with better idea to prevent AirTag stalking

• Apple plans software workaround for noninfringing watches amid US ITC ban appeal

• 'No Laughing Matter:' Clowns Sue Clowns.com for Wage Theft

• LinkedIn ad prices rise as advertisers leave Elon Musk's X

• Google agrees to settle Chrome incognito mode class action lawsuit

• Inside Apple's massive push to make the Mac a gaming paradise, after they completely killed off gaming on the Mac and almost killed off the Mac itself.

TechSuck / Geek Bait

• The IDEs we had 30 years ago... and we lost

  • HN comments

• Linux Foundation spends only 2% of their revenue on Linux

AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World

• Satya Nadella is CEO of the year following his heavy investment in generative AI

• AI Is a Healer, Not a Killer. It will find new drugs

• I consider this a smoking gun for Midjourney's flagrant copyright infringement

• ISO 42001: A new foundational global standard to advance responsible AI

• AI's Dreadful December: Lawsuits, plagiarism and child abuse images

• NY Times Lawsuit vs OpenAI Would Open NYT to All Sorts of Lawsuits Should It Win

Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO

• SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launches mysterious X-37B space plane for Space Force

Economicon / Business / Finance

• California's New Minimum Wage Is Predictably Killing Food Delivery Jobs

  • California Pizza Hut franchises to lay off more than 1,100 delivery drivers ahead of wage hike

  • As base pay rises, some companies are fighting back with fees, layoffs

  • The Real Minimum Wage Is Always Zero | SchiffGold

• Why there is a shortage of software developers? | Hacker News

• Minimum-wage workers in 22 states will be getting raises on Jan. 1

• The Banks Are Not OK | ZeroHedge

  According to data from the Federal Deposit Insurance. Corp. (FDIC), U.S. banks have now lost deposits for six consecutive quarters.

• Massive Layoffs Are Coming in 2024

• New U.S. immigration rules spur more visa approvals for STEM workers

  • HN comments

• Affirm stock up 430% in 2023, beating all tech peers, on buy-now-pay-later boom

• "Report it the right way!" Why corporate bankruptcies were up in 2023 despite the improving economy

• Global mergers, acquisitions hit lowest level in a decade

• First Costco, Now Walmart? Major Retailers Now Offer Gold Bars | ZeroHedge

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• GOP expands impeachment probe into Hunter Biden's defiance of subpoenas

  • House GOP Goes on Fishing Expedition for White House Documents

  • House committees escalate impeachment probe by demanding White House documents on Hunter Biden

• Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert switches districts

  • Boebert to Ditch Her Congressional District Amid Plummeting Re-Election Odds

• Ramaswamy slams TV ads, campaign halts them in Iowa and New Hampshire

  • Vivek Ramaswamy’s Campaign May Not Make It to Iowa

  • Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign has slowed TV ad spending ahead of the Iowa caucus

• Joe Biden Has Blunt 4-Word Reply To Nikki Haley's Viral 'Civil War' Dodge

  • Nikki Haley Fails To Mention Slavery When Asked About Civil War

  • Nikki Haley declines to say slavery was cause of Civil War

  • Historical record suggests slavery was indeed the prime issue: (1860) Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union

  On the 4th day of March next, this party will take possession of the Government. It has announced that the South shall be excluded from the common territory, that the judicial tribunals shall be made sectional, and that a war must be waged against slavery until it shall cease throughout the United States. The guaranties of the Constitution will then no longer exist; the equal rights of the States will be lost. The slaveholding States will no longer have the power of self-government, or self-protection, and the Federal Government will have become their enemy.

  We, therefore, the People of South Carolina, by our delegates in Convention assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, have solemnly declared that the Union heretofore existing between this State and the other States of North America, is dissolved, and that the State of South Carolina has resumed her position among the nations of the world, as a separate and independent State; with full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent States may of right do.

  • Nikki Haley speaks out after controversial Civil War remarks

  • Nikki Haley responds to Civil War controversy: 'Of course the Civil War was about slavery'

  • Nikki Haley Blames Democrat 'Plant' for Civil War Slavery Fiasco

• New California laws 2024: Income-based electric bills

• Federal Judge Rejects Press Freedom Claims By Project Veritas In Ashley Biden Diary Case | ZeroHedge

  On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres of the Southern District of New York ruled in favor of a special master's recommendation that Project Veritas should be made to turn over all documents in its possession that detail how it came into possession of the diary in the fall of 2020. Judge Torres ruled against claims by Project Veritas that it has journalistic non-disclosure privileges under the First Amendment and thus should not be made to turn over its records.

• Biden tells reporters to start reporting on the economy ‘the right way.’

Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security

• Grand Central stabber cut loose by NYC judge just two weeks earlier

• US, Mexico Discuss Options to Slow Surge of Migrants at Border

• Chicago, New York, Denver mayors say cities are almost at capacity amid migrant crisis

  • Democratic Mayors Renew Pleas for Federal Help Over Migrant Crisis

  • Democratic mayors renew pleas for federal help and coordination with Texas

• "This Might Be The Biggest Lie Of The Year From Biden Regime" | ZeroHedge

• California Cops Can't Ask Drivers 'Do You Know Why I Pulled You Over?'

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

• U.S. announces new weapons package for Ukraine, as Congress is stalled on aid bill

  • U.S. announces $250 million in Ukraine military aid as funds run out

World

• Eiffel Tower Closes for Labor Action on Creator’s Anniversary

• China Pressures Influential Taiwanese Band Ahead of Elections, Sources Say

• North Korea’s Kim Jong Un orders military to accelerate war preparations

• Multiple Financial Executives Commit Suicide Amid China's Financial Crisis | ZeroHedge

• China warns 'military fans' they could face prison for posting photos online

• Apple Under Pressure in India Due to State-Sponsored Hacking Warnings

Israel

• Israel, Citing Hezbollah Rocket Strikes, Warns of War in Lebanon

• Israeli strike kills 3 people in Lebanon

• Israeli Airstrikes Pound Central, Southern Gaza

• Iranian Guards Vow Revenge Against Israel Over General's Killing

• Gaza Health Ministry: 20 killed by Israeli airstrike on Khan Younis; death toll surpasses 21,000

• A solution to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza nobody is talking about

  The solution to violence is not violence, but kindness. What if Israel’s response to the horrific events of October the 7th was not one of hostility, but rather one of empathy?

• IDF release video showing a tunnel shaft built inside of a Mosque in Gaza

Russia Bad / Ukraine War

• Russia, India closer to joint military equipment production – minister

• Ukraine War: The Russians Snitching on Colleagues and Strangers

• Ukraine's Scythe Drone Is All About Striking Far Away as Cheaply as Possible

• Ukraine war: Does attack on Russian ship make a difference?

• How Putin's Right-Hand Man Took Out Prigozhin

Health / Medicine

• Tyler Cowen sez: "This shows you just how bad and anti-scientific the anti-vaxx movement currently is." Moderna’s mRNA cancer vaccine works even better than thought

• Pyrophosphate imaging agent shortage reported, could last weeks

• Why Aren't More People Buying Over-the-Counter Hearing Aids?

• Amazon receives FDA warning letter for supplements with undeclared ingredients

  • HN comments

• America has a life expectancy crisis. But it's not a political priority

• What is hospice care? 6 myths about this end-of-life option

• Maternal use of hormonal contraception and risk of autism spectrum disorders

• Rock-bottom prices drive shortages of generic drugs used in hospitals

• Wegovy and Other New Weight Loss Drugs Work–So What's Next?

• ‘Tummy tuck’ surgery found safe, reliable over 16-year study.

• Muscle protein synthesis 47% higher after beef versus vegan meal

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• Zero onshore wind plans submitted in England since de facto ban was 'lifted'

• 2023 – A Year of Extreme Weather, as Seen from Space

• Dalio: It will cost 'between $5 and $10T a year' to limit climate change

• Saffron supplies dry up as climate change shrivels Iran’s ‘desert gold’

• NYC Government Will Fail to Meet 2025 Climate Law Deadline, Officials Admit

• 'Tree lobsters' – the rarest insects on Earth – are on exhibit at a US zoo

• 40% of US electricity is now emissions-free

• How homes in the hottest places on Earth keep cool without AC

• UK retailers will be forced to pay for e-waste recycling from 2026.